Беседа 30

John 3:31. He who comes from above is above all; but he who is from the earth is and speaks as he who is from the earth... 1. The efforts of St. John the Baptist to lead his disciples to Jesus Christ. – 2. Rejecting Jesus Christ is tantamount to convicting the God who sent Him of lies. – 3. One should not read the Word of God frivolously: one must delve into every word. – The Word of God is a weapon that you need to be able to wield. - In the affairs of this world, everyone is clever and smart, but in the matter of salvation we are lazy and cowardly. – The sacred books were written not only for the ancients, but also for us. 1. The love of glory is terrible, terrible and filled with many evils. This is a thorn, difficult to pluck, an indomitable beast, many-headed, rebelling against the very ones who feed it. Just as a worm devours the trees in which it is born, rust devours the iron in which it appears, and moths consume fabric, so vanity destroys the soul that nurtured it within itself. Therefore, we need a lot of effort to destroy this passion in ourselves. Here too, no matter how much John inspired his disciples who suffered from this illness, he barely tamed them. After the words spoken earlier, he addresses them with another speech; with which one? “He who comes from above,” he says, “is above all; but he who is from the earth is and speaks as he who is from the earth” (John 3:31). Since you, he says, spread my testimony everywhere and say that in it I am completely worthy of faith, you need to know that He who comes from heaven cannot become worthy of faith through someone who lives on earth. What do the words “there is above all” mean and what do they show? They show that Christ does not need anyone, but is content with Himself, and that He is above everyone without any comparison. But John calls himself the one who “is of the earth” and says this not from his own mind; but, as Christ said: “I told you about earthly things, and you do not believe” (John 3:12), meaning here baptism, not because it was something earthly, but in comparison with it of His ineffable birth, so John here calls himself speaking from the earth, comparing his teaching with the teaching of Christ. There is nothing else that the words mean - “he speaks as one from the earth”, but the fact that my words, in comparison with Christ’s, are of little importance, meager, insignificant, such as words that have received earthly origin tend to be. But in Him “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden” (Col. 2:3). And what John is saying here is not about human speculation, this is obvious from his own words: “he who is of the earth is.” But in John, not everything was from the earth, but the most important thing was heavenly; he had both a soul and the fellowship of the Spirit not from the earth. How does John say about himself that he is from the earth? This means nothing else than that I am small and worthless, as one who comes from the earth and was born on the earth; and Christ came to us from above. When with all these words John tamed the passion of his disciples, then he spoke about Christ with great boldness. Before this, it would have been unnecessary to say any words about Him, since they could not have a place for themselves in the minds of those listening. But when John plucked up the thorns, then he fearlessly began to sow seeds, saying: “He who comes from above is above all, and what He saw and heard, he testifies to; and no one accepts His testimony” (John 3:31–32). But, having said these great and sublime words about Christ, John again moves on to the humble word. The expression: “what He saw and heard” is used in a human-like manner; After all, He does not know by sight and hearing what He knows, but in His nature He has everything, as having come perfect from the bosom of the Father and not needing a mentor, as He himself says: “As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father” (John 10:15). What does it mean: “What He saw and heard, He testifies to”? Since through these senses we know everything with accuracy, and we consider ourselves reliable teachers in what we perceive through sight and hearing, because we do not invent or tell lies, then, wanting to express this here too, John said: “what He saw and heard,” that is: in Him there is nothing false, but everything is true. Just like we often ask with curiosity: did you hear it yourself? have you seen it? and when this is confirmed, then the testimony becomes undoubted - so when Christ himself says: “As I hear, so I judge” (John 5:30), and: “What I have heard from Him, these I speak” (John 8:26), and: “We speak about what we know” (John 3:11), and similar words, then we should not think that He speaks from teaching from others (it would be extremely crazy to think so), but that He says this so that nothing He says will be suspected by the shameless Jews. Since they did not yet have a proper understanding of Him, He often turns to the Father, and thus makes His words worthy of faith for them. 2. Why are you surprised that Christ turns to the Father, when He often turns to both the prophets and the Scriptures, as for example when he says: “they testify of Me” (John 5:39)? But will we really consider Him less than even the prophets, just because He borrows testimonies from them? It won't happen. So he only adapts his word to the weakness of his listeners, and if he says that what he said he heard from the Father, then he speaks not as having a need for a mentor, but so that they believe that there is nothing false in his words. And John’s words mean the following: I must listen to Him, because He came from above and proclaims heavenly things, what He alone knows truly. This is precisely what the words mean: “What He saw and heard, He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony." But He also had disciples, and many listened to His words: how does John say: “no one accepts”? “No one” is said here instead of: few, because if John had said in the strict sense: no one, then how could he then add: “He who received His testimony has sealed that God is true” (John 3:33). Here John also concerns his disciples, since they were not entirely disposed to believe in Christ. And that even after these words they did not believe in Him is obvious from subsequent legends. Being in prison, John sent them to Christ for this purpose, in order to unite them more closely with Him. But even then they barely believed in Him, which is what Christ hinted at when he said: “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:6). So, it was not for any other purpose that John said: “and no one accepts His testimony,” as in order to warn his disciples, as if he had said this: if not many believe in Him, then do not therefore think that His teaching is false; “He has seen... and bears witness.” At the same time, John says this to reproach the insensitivity of the Jews, just as at the beginning of the gospel the Evangelist John denounces them, saying: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11); This is not a reproach to Christ himself, but a condemnation of those who did not accept Him. “He who received His testimony has sealed that God is true” (John 3:33). By this he frightens them, shows that he who does not believe in Christ not only does not believe in Him, but also in the Father himself; That’s why he adds: “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God” (John 3:34). Since He speaks of God, then whoever believes or does not believe in Him believes in God or does not believe. The word: “imprinted” means: proven. Speaking in this way and increasing their fear, John adds: “God is true,” showing by this that not believing in Christ means nothing other than condemning God who sent Him as a lie. So, if He says nothing alien to the Father, but everything is the Father’s, then he who does not listen to Christ does not listen to Him who sent Him. Do you see how he amazes them with these words? Until now, they had not considered it important not to listen to Christ. That is why John threatens unbelievers with such great danger, so that they will know that those who disobey Christ do not obey God himself. But then, continuing his conversation, John condescends to the weakness of their minds and says: “God does not give the Spirit by measure” (John 3:34). As I said, John again uses a derogatory manner of expression, diversifying his words and thus making it acceptable to his listeners. Otherwise it would have been impossible to arouse and intensify fear in them. If he had said something majestic or lofty about Christ, they would not have believed it, and would also have begun to neglect his words. Therefore, John refers everything to the Father, but speaks of Christ as a man. What do the words mean: “God gives the Spirit without measure”? John wants to show that we all receive some measure of the Spirit's power. Here he calls His power Spirit, and it is this that is divided according to measure. And Christ has immeasurable total power. If His power is immeasurable, then even more so is His being. But do you see that the Spirit is also infinite? So, he who has accepted all the power of the Spirit, who knows everything of God, who has said: “What He has seen and heard, he testifies to,” can he be suspected of anything? He does not say anything that is not God, that is not from the Spirit. And meanwhile, John still does not say anything about God the Word, but only confirms in his teaching the name of the Father and the Spirit, since they knew that there is God, that there is a Spirit, they believed, although they did not have the proper concept of Him, but they did not know that there is a Son. That is why he always turns to the Father and the Spirit and thereby confirms the truth of his words. And if someone, having lost sight of this reason, began to consider the teaching in itself, he would move too far away from a worthy concept of Christ, since Christ was not worthy of their faith because he had the power of the Spirit; He did not need His help, but He has everything in Himself; but John speaks this way to accommodate the imperfect understanding of his disciples, wanting to little by little elevate their concepts. I say this in order not to superficially skim over what is said in Scripture, but to inquire into the purpose of the speaker, and the weakness of those listening, and other circumstances. The teachers do not all speak as they themselves would like, but as the state of the weak requires. That is why Paul says: “I could not speak to you, brothers, as spiritual, but as carnal... I fed you with milk, and not with solid food” (1 Cor. 3:1-2). I would like, he says, to talk with you as if you were spiritual, but I could not. Why? Not because he himself did not have the strength to do this, but because they could not listen to such teaching. So John wanted to teach his disciples a lot, but they could not yet contain it; That’s why he limits himself to simpler concepts. 3. So, you need to test everything carefully. The sayings of Scripture are spiritual weapons. And if we do not know how to use weapons and equip students with them well, then in itself it will have power, but it cannot bring any benefit to those who take it. Let's assume that the armor, helmet, shield, and spear are strong. But let someone, having taken this weapon, put armor on his legs, a helmet not on his head, but on his face, and hold the shield not in front of his chest, but try to hang it at his feet: will there be any benefit from this weapon? Will there be any more harm? This is obvious to everyone. But this will not happen because of the weakness of the weapon, but because of the inexperience of someone who does not know how to use it well. So it is with Scripture: if we confuse the order of its sayings, then although in this case it will have its own power in itself, it will not bring us any benefit. I always say this to you both in private and in public meetings, but I have no success because I see that you are always attached to everyday affairs, but you have not even a shadow of spiritual matters. That is why we are careless in life and, while striving for the truth, we do not have much strength, but we become ridiculous to the pagans and to the Jews and heretics. If in other matters you showed the same carelessness as here, then even in this case it would not deserve an apology. But in everyday affairs, each of you is sharper than the sword, both those engaged in crafts and those performing civil affairs. But in matters of necessity, spirituality, we are completely careless; We engage in idleness as if it were business, and what should be considered the most necessary, we do not even put alongside idleness. Or don’t you know that the Scripture was written not only for the former people, but also for us? Do we not hear what Paul says: “Everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through patience and encouragement from the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4)? I know that I am speaking in vain; but I will not stop speaking, because by doing this I will justify myself before God, even if no one listens to me. He who preaches to attentive listeners has the consolation of their submission; and whoever preaches often, but is not heeded, and yet he does not stop speaking, deserves greater honor, because for the sake of pleasing God, he does everything that should be done on his part, even if no one listened. However, even if we had a greater reward, due to your inattention, we would rather have it decrease for us, and increase the hope of salvation for you, since we consider your very success to be a great reward for ourselves. And we say this now not in order to make our word painful for you, but to show you sorrow for your negligence, from which God may we all leave behind, and to internalize spiritual zeal, so that we may be worthy of heavenly blessings, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: